Kia Cerato review and buyer’s guide
Still considering an SUV? The Kia Cerato is a solid value proposition, which could save you thousands while offering greater space, more features and build quality as good as any Toyota Corolla or Mazda 3. There’s even an affordable performance version. Let’s talk about Cerato…
The Kia Cerato should absolutely be on your shortlist if you need an affordable, well-equipped and safe - yet practical - small hatchback or sedan.
If you’re also shopping for a small SUV like Hyundai Kona, Kia Seltos, Subaru Crosstrek, a Mitsubishi ASX or a Mazda CX-3, you might want to save some money buy getting a Cerato which is strong on value by comparison, because it does the same job.
Against a Cerato you should also compare it with Hyundai i30, the Toyota Corolla, a Mazda 3 or the Subaru Impreza.
If this is you and you need the most amount of car for your cash, you need to seriously look at a Cerato before buying because wheelbase and cargo space really matter here. And this notionally ‘small car’ offers both as inherent strengths, without the slightly higher price tag. Keep scrolling for the full model range and analysis.
Download the official Kia Cerato specifications here: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/8...
If you’re not interested in driving dynamics and performance, then the rest of the Cerato range offers insane value for money. The price is still a good proposition than haggling for hundreds of dollars over a second-hand version.
Getting your hands on a Cerato is also a good news situation because dealers will not have to work very hard to get rid of small SUVs like Seltos or Kona - because they’re so popular - but you can absolutely squeeze the sales person to do you a better deal on this proven, reliable, well-built little car. Being less popular, but still in good supply, means you can find one at a better price elsewhere (and use that to leverage a better deal).
The overarching benefit to you in buying a Cerato is that it can do just as much running around and small family related work, for less money than a Seltos. The only notable compromise you’re making is in the ride height - which is all small SUVs are - a raised hatchback, more or less.
FEATURES & PRICING
The latest Kia Cerato range spans from the S, Sport, Sport+ to the range-topping GT. Let’s take a walk through these to discover which variant is best for your needs.
Starting at the tempting top-end of the range, the Cerato GT. This isn’t quite a hot hatch but damn near as good as one. Power comes from a revised but well-evolved 1.6-litre turbo that falls under Hyundai Motor Group’s latest Smartstream engine family philosophy. It produces a healthy and usable 150kW and 265Nm. Not that long ago, outright hot hatches were struggling to meet that power level. The others in the lineup use a pretty basic but durable 2.0-litre petrol, generating 112kW and 192Nm.
Kia offers a sedan and hatchback layout for versatility, but really the hatch is the one to go for. Boot space measures in at 428L compared with 502L in the sedan, but the big access cavity left by the hatch lid makes it much more convenient. It's like having a little wagon. In the sedan you have to bend down and reach in awkwardly to retrieve distant items, but at least everything is locked away where prying eyes can’t see.
The other factor here is the cost of a Cerato sedan or hatch in comparison to the additional expense of a Mazda CX-30, a small-to-midsize SUV which has less luggage space - just 317 litres, that’s 25 per cent less luggage space. It’s even worse if you compare the CX-30 to Cerato sedan - 36 per cent less in the Mazda.
It’s the same case for Seltos which has 433 litres, but is still 13 per cent less practical than the Cerato sedan, and just 1 per cent less than the hatch. Admittedly, 1 per cent is nothing and Seltos would be a viable alternative to Cerato, hatch, but you’ll pay more for an additional 30mm (3cm) of ground clearance and the same engine, but worse performance because Seltos is 7 per cent heavier.
The new Subaru Crosstrek (formerly XV) paints a similar picture: 291 litres of luggage space (47 per cent less than Cerato hatch). The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross has the same issue: 405 litres (5 per cent less than Cerato hatch, or 23 per cent less than Cerato sedan). Yet an Eclipse Cross is several thousand more, when a Cerato sedan GT is ~$40K driveaway.
The CX-30 is $42K before on roads, new Crosstrek is $41,500 for a base model 2.0S and that’s before on-road costs.
Say what you want about notionally small cars being out of vogue, but they still absolutely smash small SUVs on value and family practicality. And is 3cm in ground clearance really going to make a difference to getting things in and out of the boot, or getting your arse in and out of the front seat?
Certainly there’s a case for elderly drivers in small or midsize SUVs getting in an out with much less strain on their hips, legs and lower backs, but that’s about as far as they go against the practicality edge of the humble but mighty Cerato.
Kia interiors are always well-arranged with plenty of convenient storage areas and logical positions for controls and buttons. Everything is where you’d expect it to be; it’s very intuitive. The GT comes with leather trim and racy red stitching for the doors and seats, and there’s a sports steering wheel which is a nice size and it looks appealing (that’s what she said).
The GT is neatly dressed in sporty attire on the outside as well, donning a subtle aero kit with skirting around the body and some red pinstripes to help it stand out. It also rides on a set of unique 18-inch alloy wheels that wear very grippy (but expensive) Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres. More on the GT below.
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DRIVING
Is Cerato a proper hot hatch around corners? Almost, but not on quite the same level as a VW Golf GTI or Subaru WRX kind of deal. But that’s a good thing if you don’t actually have that performance driving illness that plagues car enthusiasts.
Yes, the body remains flat and composed, with a gentle tug from the steering wheel under power around inviting curves. This is an enjoyable car to drive. And best yet, you don’t need to be going at breakneck speeds to induce smiles.
But it’s not a proper boy racer kind of car. That means it’s actually comfortable to drive normally, the suspension doesn’t pulverise you in shopping centre carparks at speed humps, and nor does highway driving leave you deaf from the roar of tyres on the road and wind hitting the mirrors. Cerato is much more civilised to drive to and from work in, but still be able to enjoy some weekend regional touring. Especially in the ‘Sport’ or ‘Sport'+’ variants.
The ride is firmer than the rest of the Cerato range due to a bespoke sports tune for the suspension system. It can be jittery and choppy on poorly-maintained country roads, for example. But everywhere else it copes just fine for a sporty hatch/sedan. The GT also uses the more comprehensive multi-link independent rear suspension system over the torsion-beam arrangement fitted on all other variants.
One aspect that will divide opinion and potentially make or break your buying decision is the gearbox. The GT uses a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Now, these types of transmissions are great for providing millisecond gear shifts when driving at higher tempos.
However, in regular conditions they tend to allow some roll-back on hills (unless there is an auto-hold function, as with the Cerato), and they can be a bit jerky when moving about in tight car parks, when you’re shifting from reverse to drive and vice-versa. This is the case with the Cerato GT. There are delays that you will need to get used to and compensate for. And generally just keep your foot on the brake at the lights instead of creeping forward and adding premature wear to the clutch. This isn’t a fault or criticism, it’s just the nuance of such a transmission.
It can be really frustrating at times, especially if you’re always in a busy rush. On the contrary, performance and efficiency are usually improved with these types of gearboxes. In fact, the GT offers an official consumption average of 6.9L/100km in the sedan and 6.8L/100km in the hatch, compared with the 7.4L/100km rating of the 2.0-litre non-turbo engine and six-speed auto, fitted to all others.
So, let’s just recap. The GT is the most powerful yet the most fuel efficient. That’s the magic of turbochargers and a dual-clutch transmission.
What about the rest of the range? Moving down, the Sport+ is perhaps the best all-rounder. It doesn’t come with the turbo engine or the compromised dual-clutch auto, but it looks very similar inside and out.
The alloy wheels are downsized from 18 to 17 inches, but a similar bodykit is applied with black trimmings for that cool contrasting look – in white, it is a fresh bit of gear. The Sport+ also features the larger 284mm rear disc brakes (up from 262mm on the S and Sport) with an electronic park brake and auto-hold functionality.
The Sport+ also comes with a heap of safety technologies, some of which are not presented on the lower-spec models. Highlights include blind-spot warning and assist, rear cross-traffic alert, autonomous emergency braking with cyclist detection, and adaptive cruise control.
All variants come with a rear-view camera with guidelines, front parking sensors, and lane-keep assist. But the Sport+ and GT add collision avoidance (autonomous intervention) for the rear-cross traffic alert and blind-spot assist systems. As such, only the Sport+ and GT have been awarded the full five-star ANCAP safety rating whereas the S and Sport have been given four stars.
Basically, the Sport+ is equipped with an additional layer of protection, just like the GT.
INTERIOR
Front passengers are greeted with the larger 10.25-inch touch-screen inside as well, reserved for the Sport, Sport+ and GT. The entry S uses an 8.0-inch unit.
Strangely, the 8.0-inch screen is capable of connecting to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wirelessly, whereas the bigger screen needs a connecting cord. The bigger screen does come with in-built sat-nav though, and the GT adds a superior eight-speaker sound system by JBL.
Dual-zone climate control is standard on the Sport+, with rear air vents for all models, fortunately, and heated front seats are on the GT only. Sport+ doesn’t get the sporty seats like the GT but they are leather-trimmed, which is great if you’re constantly wiping up messy kids.
What about the Sport? Well, now you’re moving into a company-car type of vehicle, or even Uber spec. The latest model is surprisingly well-appointed for a lower-end model, featuring that bigger touch-screen inside with digital radio and sat-nav. But, really, that’s the only motivation to step up to the Sport over the S.
The Sport does look decent on the outside with its 17-inch alloy wheels, compared with the steel, hub-capped rims on the base S. Aside from that, the Sport is essentially the same specification as the S - but there’s nothing about its interior that should leave you feeling stooged on quality or comfort. Putting to one side the litany of plastic trims (that you’d expect on such an affordable little car) everything is where it should be, there’s a good level of gear (for the price, and the seats are more comfortable than the simplistic cabin design would have you believe.
In that case, the Sport is the pick if you’re on a tight budget. But if you can live without the bigger touch-screen and its apps, and care very little about alloy wheels, then the entry S is excellent value for money.
ENGINE
Cerato uses two engines, a 2-litre naturally aspirated (non-turbo) petrol 4-cylinder that makes 112kW of peak power in the ‘S’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Sport+’ model grades. It’s front-wheel drive, as is the second engine, the 1.6-turbo petrol engine that makes 150kW - that’s 33 per cent better performance - in the GT.
The 1.6 is the same engine powering the Kona, i30 (and its ‘N’ performance derivatives), the Kia Seltos, and it’s the combustion engine connected to the electric side of the hybrid systems in Sorento, Sportage and Santa Fe.
What makes the Cerato GT particularly inviting is that it has that old-school model grade line-up where the premium engine and transmission is packaged into the top-spec variant - as opposed to the same mild engine being shoved into every variant to save costs and offer the consumer no performance-based reason to buy higher up in the range. Remember when the SS Commodore meant you were getting the 5.0-litre V8 engine and the six-speed transmission, but the lower grades only got the 3.8-litre V6?
So you get the hot engine and the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission which are a match made in heaven, for those who like to get stuck into their driving, on the top-of-the-range Cerato. And on the inside, you get the performance trimmings to match the powertrain.
But if that’s not for you, the Sport+ is very highly equipped, and certainly isn’t stripped of much, for potential buyers who need more of a suburban runabout for commuting, dropping the kids at school and getting the shopping done - but you also just want a modest vehicle that looks respectable, and not some hotted up boy-racer.
And what’s great about choosing either engine in Cerato is that you’ll consume less fuel than the equivalent Kia Seltos, Kona, Mazda CX-30 or Subaru Crosstrek. Why? Elementary.
Because in its heaviest configuration the Cerato only weighs about 1400kg, and not closer to 1500kg (using GT-Line variants with the 1.6 for argument’s sake), the Cerato returns a fuel economy combined cycle figure of 6.8 litres per 100km - not 7.4 like Seltos. That’s almost 9 per cent better fuel economy, to carry the same 5 passengers, and with the same size boot, and costing about $8500 less.
The same 50-litre fuel tank on both vehicles means the Seltos absolutely cannot use less fuel doing the same driving as a Cerato, with the same amount of payload. Speaking of which, there’s exactly 5 litres’ difference between the boot in Seltos and the one in Cerato.
Overall, the Kia Cerato offers one of the biggest cabins of its class, very good driving dynamics for its class, and all are backed by Kia’s class-leading seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty.
Still considering an SUV? The Kia Cerato is a solid value proposition, which could save you thousands while offering greater space, more features and build quality as good as any Toyota Corolla or Mazda 3. There’s even an affordable performance version. Let’s talk about Cerato…